Options for a large (50+) group

[mburstein]

Hi, everyone. I'm trying to plan a dinner onsite for a large group of people--probably 50-60 total, 25-30 kids. It's for DD's gymnastics team and parents and coaches. The majority of people will be staying at All-Star Sports but I'm open to just about any location. My in-going assumption is that this is a task for Disney catered events, but thought I would ask if anyone had experience planning something like this that's a little more kid-focused than wedding/corporate event-focused. Would love to hear any ideas that folks might have. Many thanks!

 

[Pumbaa_]

That is a very large group. Be prepared for sticker shock for events

Instead of a dinner, have you considered a fireworks dessert party?

Here is a link to @lurkyloo site. She has the best info on events. It is not cheap. But can give you some ideas of what is available where and minimum expenditures required

Let us know what you do
https://disneytravelbabble.com/

 

[Lewisc]

Try swan dolphin.

 

[lurkyloo]

Disney Catered Events can work with you to make the event fit any focus. With that many kids, a character appearance could be really fun. For up to 30 minutes of interaction, prices are $1,325 for one character, $1,900 for two or $2,475 for three. Each additional character at the same appearance costs $600. The clock starts ticking as soon as the characters leave their dressing room, though, so you may not end up seeing them for an entire half-hour.

This is the page on my site that explains how to plan a Disney Catered Event: https://disneytravelbabble.com/how-to/private-party/

And here's a podcast episode that covers the process too: https://disneyweddingpodcast.com/how-to-plan-a-small-private-event-at-walt-disney-world/

 

[js]

Although I didnt have a group of 50, for four years I planned Disney Spring Training for my ds’s HS baseball team (he is a junior now in college and pitches on his baseballl team) so its been a few years. We always went the second week in March so it was usually very busy. With parents, siblings and players, our group usually consisted of 30+. We always stayed at CBR.

Some places we ate were at Bongos, Villa Napoli, 50s Prime Time, Chinese in Epcot, other places in DTD and Epcot. What I did is always call the restaurant directly. I would google the restaurant and find the phone number. I would explain our group and they would set up a call for the manager to call me. Most meals were pre paid, always had a contract and meals went very smoothly.

I can tell you that since we were a large group and we would go at a busy time, we always got what I wanted, which was our dinners were usually 7 pm.
We also were usually booked by December so I wasnt making our ADRs at 120 days. From my experience, although I never asked, is that they hold ressies for large groups. One of our faborite places was Villa Napoli. All the boys and siblings got to sit at the large table in the middle of the restaurant (which I requested) with everyone else around them.
Out of all the reataurants, Villa Napoli and Paradiso 37 were the easiest to work with. All were fine but those two always had excellent communication And always booked each year.

If you have any questions, feel free to ask. I also did all our FPs although only did that for the players (and my family). The parents and families were on their own.

Enjoy!

 

[NOLA_Tink]

We ate breakfast with over 40 teachers and students at Tusker House. Disney had a separate large-party phone number for me to call when I booked it. (Not sure if they still do that, but it was very helpful.)

Rainforest Cafe in AK also had a very reasonable breakfast (and breakfast buffet) menu for groups.

 

[han22735]

We went last year with our daughters dance school and went to Hoop de doo...there were over 50 of us. So I think there's plenty of options and as mentioned above disney has a department for large groups.